Security in Embedded Systems: Design Challenges

This paper describes the current state-of-the-art of side channel attacks (side channel cryptanalysis) on embedded systems. Major countermeasures proposed in the literature are reviewed and the challenges faced by embedded system designers while considering the implementation of such countermeasures are highlighted. The large number of problems to be taken into account and the highly application-dependent character of side channel attacks make it impossible to advise adequate countermeasure as general solutions. The designer must therefore start by defining the adversary the device must resist against and with the resources available for him choose appropriate countermeasures against this adversary. The paper gives an overview of an ongoing research work which aims at finding novel hardware-based techniques to implement countermeasures for timing and power analysis attacks.